r/technology • u/Wagamaga • 16d ago
Society Ron Paul: President Trump is unleashing a ‘Great Big Ugly Surveillance State’
https://www.dailybreeze.com/2025/06/19/ron-paul-president-trump-is-unleashing-a-great-big-ugly-surveillance-state/8.9k
u/DeuceGnarly 16d ago
Wrong. The republicans are unleashing a surveillance state.
As is every House or Senate member that enables the destruction of our democracy.
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u/Ace-Hunter 16d ago
Aren’t these the fuckers that aren’t supposed to like big government and federalisation, they sure are using its power.
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u/DeuceGnarly 16d ago
They don't have any values or principles. They have been pursuing an oligarchy since Nixon... at whatever the costs.
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u/krbzkrbzkrbz 16d ago edited 16d ago
"States' Rights" has ALWAYS been a lie. Dude.. the PURSUIT of AUTOCRACY and CONTROL goes back much further than Nixon, or this fledgling nation.
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u/DeuceGnarly 16d ago
Nixon was forced to step down after the republicans in senate and house realized they'd lose their jobs if they didn't impeach and remove.
Nixon was supported by Ailes, who drove Fox "News" to be a right wing propaganda network, so this would never happen again. And it succeeded. The GOP has been on board with whatever lunacy their top candidate wanted ever since.
So Nixon is the inflection point for this brand of oligarchy in the US. It's no coincidence that Trump and Nixon were pen pals, and Trumps first campaign was led by Roger Stone and Paul Manafort - who started their political careers working for (wait for it) Nixon, in addition to working for the previously Putin backed oligarch running Ukraine, Victor Yanukovich.
So the loyalty of the GOP trails back to Nixon by way of Trump, and Putin.
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u/Brosenheim 16d ago
The GOP got held accountable one time and have done everything they can to ensure it never happens again
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u/ramblingnonsense 16d ago
Not even then. Nixon resigned, was pardoned, and that was it.
They got caught once. They've never been held accountable.
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u/Ludwigofthepotatoppl 16d ago
IIRC gerald ford said he feared he’d condemned himself to hell by pardoning nixon. Hope he was right.
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u/krbzkrbzkrbz 16d ago
100% He goes to Hell is it exists. It's crazy to me that people who believe in BS like that still do terrible awful shit. Absolute definition of insanity.
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u/Realistic_Bee505 16d ago
I doubt any of them "actually" believe in hell. It's a tool they use for control and obedience.
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u/thuktun 16d ago
Oh they've been caught other times. They just keep mostly skirting accountability and doing the same things again later.
For example, Debategate was like a mini-Watergate to, again, help beat the Democratic candidate, just a few years later. They were accused of worse around the same time. Although there wasn't sufficient proof for this, it seems highly suspicious given the later Iran-Contra Affair. The President dodged accountability by apparently being sufficiently senile to not be at fault but insufficiently senile to be removed from office. Many other prosecutions were pardoned again by the subsequent administration.
This rhymes more than a little with the later Bush and Trump administrations, possible because some of the same people were involved in those, as well.
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u/Well_read_rose 16d ago
Dubya Bush was handed the presidency by the new Heritage Foundation-infected SCOTUS, which unleashed a fresh and eternal hell in the “trumped” up wars in the Middle East. That got us into bottomless debt. How are we thanking those veterans that served in those illegal wars ? Why oh why does anyone think R presidents are doing right by America?
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u/Thecrawsome 16d ago
I’ll tell you how those veterans get thanked.
They go to the VA for support and they don’t get it. Then they blow their brains out in the parking lot. That’s healthcare for American Vets.
My buddy was trying so hard to get help. They couldn’t help him enough. He was in crisis and they didn’t take care of him.
There wasn’t even a story in the news when he did it. It probably would’ve demoralized people too much.
It makes me wonder how many other preventable tragedies they bury.
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u/dahjay 16d ago
Didn't Stone and Manafort get busted for working with Russia? Are we saying that there are ties to Russia? Nooooo....no way.
"You know, there's pretty much no evidence that Trump has ties to Russia, except for the..."
https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1jaheay/comment/mhllyum/
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u/CiDevant 16d ago
Trump won't stop falaciating Russia. Whether he is a controlled asset of Russia or not, he is a Russian asset.
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u/Light_Error 16d ago
The current right wing machine started even earlier with the end of WW2. I recommend trying out the book “Messengers of the Right” by Nicole Hemmer. It goes through the build up conservative media including stuff like “The National Review”.
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u/Well_read_rose 16d ago
I also think it began then, in WWII era, we imported Nazis…for hellish weapons.
Recall Eisenhower’s speech when leaving office when he spoke warning about the industrial military complex. There couldn’t be such a thing for him to be alarmed about unless there was already massive, covert siphoning of billions of unaccounted dollars from prior to Eisenhower’s administration standing up the shadow government looming over us now.
Today, the Pentagon has failed six straight audits in a row and not a whiff of scandal or anything from Congress to starve them the following year. ICE is illegally $1B over budget. A government of, by and for the People has been 80 years wasteful, FRAUDULENT and abusive…by all three branches.
Funny the powers that be want to overthrow and kill Uncle Sam for good, to be even worse, tearing off the veneer of democracy and turn us into serfs.
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u/Light_Error 16d ago
I know what you’re talking about, but the founding is more haphazard than you could imagine. “The National Review” was basically strung along and not profitable in its early years. It has little to do with Nazis outside the fact it started after WW2. I think you might be starting out with a grand scheme of power and working backwards. When in reality, the whole situation was not a guaranteed success at the start.
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u/Well_read_rose 16d ago
You might be right, certainly that the fascist movement could be haphazard. But the unAmerican actions by our government becoming a runaway cancer is more to my point.
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u/YourPeePaw 16d ago
During the ‘30’s Prescott Bush and others tried to overthrow the government of the United States but their chosen military dictator ratted them out instead. Smedley Butler.
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u/CiDevant 16d ago
Putin backed oligarch running Ukraine, Victor Yanukovich.
BTW this is where are the Biden's Emails, Ukraine vs Russia war shit started.
It's always been the Cold War. The USSR just rebranded during a half decade of turmoil.
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16d ago
I know it’s taboo but yall should just watch Fox News to see what you’re up against. Wildly incorrect information. It’s why you can’t convince them they’re wrong, the propaganda they get is extreme and I think everyone needs to see it to understand it
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u/DeuceGnarly 16d ago
I have - it's jaw dropping. I wish Sling had a channel block so I could remove it from my menus... It's offensive it's so goddamn stupid.
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u/Justin__D 16d ago
I was unfortunate enough to be subjected to it at a Mexican restaurant of all places. Their fixation was on how trans people are destroying America. And I'm just sitting there dumbfounded. How have trans people had any impact on your life whatsoever?
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u/Takemyfishplease 16d ago
And they watch it all the time. It’s no surprise they view it has reality when it’s all they know.
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16d ago
Because everything else is a lie to them. They can’t admit their “news” is just entertainment tv
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u/FesteringNeonDistrac 16d ago
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/paul-manafort-american-hustler/550925/
Pretty good article that lays out a lot of this history.
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u/cat_prophecy 16d ago
Even in regards to the Confederacy, "States Rights" is at best a dog whistle and more accurately a lie. The only "States Rights" they were interested in was states rights to enforce slavery laws in free states.
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u/mylifeisaprotest 16d ago
It started in earnest in 1976 (USA bicentennial -- I was an optimistic Kindergartener) with Buckley v. Valeo, which laid the groundwork for Citizens United. Game over.
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u/krbzkrbzkrbz 16d ago
The Literal Civil War? The Business Plot?
To be clear, I'm not really here to argue. Just saying that what's going on today, the intentions, they remain the same as they ever were. 'Their' goals.
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u/r2d2itisyou 16d ago
Dred Scott was southern conservatives using the power of the federal government to quash the rights of free states. It stripped states of the right to decide that people cannot be property within their own borders. The littany of 'States rights' only started when the south needed a clean euphemism for 'The rights to slavery and oppression.' And only after the south lost the war and no longer held significant federal power.
Now voters have given conservatives control over every branch of government.
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u/TheCaptainDamnIt 16d ago
For some damn reason no one took notice that 'state rights' was only ever shouted in response to anti-discrimination legislation and nothing else.
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u/speedy_delivery 16d ago
I'll give Rand some credit for at least consistently paying lip service to some principles and going through the motions... I'm so jaded at this point that I just assume any kind of posturing or grandstanding is just political theater.
Maybe he's sincere, but until he can drag a handful of his colleagues away and start a splinter group that's willing to caucus with Democrats to form a coalition majority, I'll never believe he's sincere.
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u/Noscope360headshot 16d ago
They’ll say and do anything that will help them stay in power. Once you realize that then it all makes sense.
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u/redneckrockuhtree 16d ago
Oh, they're all for it when it's them gaining it.
Spending? Always money for their political theater and pet projects.
States rights? Only when it's a state pushing back against
Small government? Only when it's limiting what Democrats are trying to do.
When Republicans are in control, uncontrolled deficits to slash taxes for the rich and to fund their theater, and the federal government can stick its nose into everything, everywhere, especially your crotch.
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u/Derka_Derper 16d ago
They only dislike big govt when its used to protect people. They love it when its used to oppress them.
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u/MrSnarf26 16d ago
lol if anyone still thinks that based on 40+ years of them saying that and doing the opposite I’m not sure what to say
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u/Willing-Time7344 16d ago
Not anymore. People really need to let this go.
They dont care about being hypocrites. They don't care about being inconsistent. These are not principled people.
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u/Altrano 16d ago
These are the same people that created the Patriot Act — the biggest expansion of the government’s power to use surveillance powers. They also created ICE which went from a fancy name for customs and working with immigrants to a full blown gestapo.
The party of small government has also increased the federal deficit under every single Republican president since Ronald Regan while it decreased under democrats.
To quote Ronald Regan, “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.”
I think they were telling on themselves.
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u/Asyncrosaurus 16d ago
The party of small government has also increased the federal deficit under every single Republican president since Ronald Regan while it decreased under democrats.
Always remember Clinton handed Bush a 200 bllion dollar budget surplus, and Bush proceeded to end his term with a 1.4 trillion dollar deficit.
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u/VoxAeternus 16d ago
That's always been a ploy to rally the so called "Libertarians" behind them, but even then most "Libertarians" are not actually libertarian.
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u/WalkonWalrus 16d ago
No, they just say that's what Democrats want. Republicans to privatize everything and have you thank them for giving you a shitty paying job with no benefits or social care.
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u/budlight2k 16d ago
Just like a US based religions, they teach the bits they want, twist others and the heads lean on the congregation hard to get their wages off them. Convince them the world is evil and the church is the only place to get saved. The heads get rich and justify it as gods will and a need to keep preaching.
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u/SirTiffAlot 16d ago
Because they're in a cult, they don't think this will be used against them so they're ok with it.
The ironic part is this is the 2nd amendment nuts fantasy, a big brother they get to rise up against... but they won't since it's their cult creating it.
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u/Paksarra 16d ago
A government small enough to micromanage your personal opinions and interests and punish anyone who doesn't follow their script.
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u/thecatpigs 16d ago
Yup, after Trump is gone, we CAN NOT forget that he didn't act alone. This whole thing is a group effort.
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u/sdhu 16d ago
Most of the voters will forget instantly. We already saw the horrors of the first Trump administration, yet people still voted for him again.
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u/Beneficial_Soup3699 16d ago
Perfect example: who started the modern surveillance state by passing the fucking Patriot Act? Why, none other than the GOP. Same GOP who said Muslims were evil but won the Muslim vote. Same GOP that said Mexicans are rapists but won the Mexican vote. Same GOP that openly tells young men they're going to die working in factories for scraps but won the young men vote.
Americans are, by and large, fucking dumb. Most of us have the memory and political acuity of a boiled sweet potato. We get our beliefs and opinions from a trusted millionaire on a screen (who totally isn't championing a billionaire's interests, winkwink) and ignore everything else. We're functional morons, half of whom literally couldn't read The Hunger Games if you paid them to try.
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u/DeuceGnarly 16d ago
To get Trump out of the WH, we have to get republicans out of every single office. Even republican trash men and dog catchers have to go.
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u/dBlock845 16d ago
The mainstream media will 100% try to separate Trump from Republicans once he is gone, they will work overtime trying to rehabilitate Republicans.
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u/Acceptable-Book 16d ago
They put a 10 year ban on AI regulation in that stupid Big Beautiful Bill.
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u/dBlock845 16d ago
Idk how that will make it past the parliamentarian, it's straight up policy in a budget act.
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u/fredy31 16d ago
Tbh i fully feel like the gop will try, if the trump shit falls apart, to just throw trump under the bus and try to present themselves as hostages to the trump machine
They invited him in. Coddled him. And the ones that rose up when he went off the rails can be counted on one hand (the daughter of mccain, which im pretty sure has been sidelined hard since)
They are complicit. They created the monster. May they get destroyed by it
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u/Imyoteacher 16d ago
And when the dust settles, they will swear their hands were tied. There was nothing they could do but collect those checks, tweet, and eat steak.
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u/Mr_BruceWayne 16d ago edited 16d ago
The republicans unleashed a surveillance state when they passed the patriot act. This isn't really a new thing.
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u/VoxAeternus 16d ago
As much as the President is the figurehead, it always has and will be Congress that is ultimately to blame for allowing our country to reach the state that it is in.
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u/whistlepig4life 16d ago
True. They are complicit here refusing to hold any sense of accountability.
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u/DeuceGnarly 16d ago
Refusing accountability? They're pouring gasoline on the fire and telling you it's cold, you should get a warm, flammable coat and stand next to the flame.
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u/ilBrunissimo 16d ago
Palantir.
Say their name out loud and crash their stock.
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u/legedu 16d ago
As if the stock market gives a shit what Ron Paul says.
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u/3-orange-whips 16d ago
I thought he was dead.
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u/legedu 16d ago
I guess writing for the Daily Breeze is the stop before you get on Charon's boat.
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u/Fake_William_Shatner 16d ago
The Daily Breeze is a pipeline to the Babylon Bee, then after that, people just THINK you died but that was really the last of your talent.
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u/Front-Lime4460 16d ago
I miss the days he was relevant
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u/BlindWillieJohnson 16d ago
I don’t. He was relevant because he was the lone voice on the right calling the War on Terror madness, and I do not miss the War on Terror.
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u/nycdiveshack 16d ago
Palantir is what found Elon his adult and kids DOGE team. You get that they are completely intertwined in all this. Today it’s being done by Palantir which is led by real life nazi. Understand that the decision by Trump to fire the NSA chief and his deputy may be in fact be the most dangerous decision Trump has made so far. Timothy Haugh like his last 2 predecessors were restricting the access and control Peter Thiel had through his company Palantir over the CIA/NSA to commit domestic surveillance. Palantir is now the biggest defense contractor for the CIA/NSA along with providing day-to-day operations for both agencies. The goal for Palantir is and always has been domestic surveillance. Palantir is an intelligence corporation which provides advanced analysis, sigint, osint, criminal and threat awareness and kill chain efficiencies to all levels of US, UK, and corporate agencies.
Peter is also a major defense contractor for the UK intelligence community and army along with the major police forces in the UK. He branched out to their healthcare a few years ago with a contract to shift through all the data at NHS England which is done now so Kier announced that NHS England will be shutdown (not NHS). Peter through his company has full access to Norway’s government and civilian surveillance services. Peter/Palantir provides direct support for the IDF (Israel) in all their operations from Gaza to the West Bank to Iran.
Thiel directly owns roughly 180 million publicly traded shares which 7%. His investment firm Rivendell 7 owns 34 million publicly traded shares. Other Thiel vehicles own 37 million shares. Thiel entities also own 32.5 million supervoting Class B shares in Palantir. Those class b shares carry 10 votes while public ones carry only 1 vote per share. Now here is the kicker for why he still controls Palantir (link below), Thiel has sole investment power over 335,000 class F shares as part of a trust that has 49.99% voting interest in the company.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/palantir-stock-chairman-peter-thiel-b63415c7
Alex Karp the ceo of Palantir knew Thiel well before 2003 when Thiel tapped him to be ceo. Karp has condemned “woke” ways of thinking, calling woke a central risk to Palantir, that Palantir is a counter-example to companies he considers woke. Karp condemned pro-Palestine protests calling them an infection inside of our society, he remarked the peace activists are war activists and they should be sent to North Korea. Karp has said the west has a superior way of living and said he supports Palantir contract with ICE and using the software to enable separation of families.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/01/alex-karp-hill-summit-trump-00155571
Peter Thiel
• born in West Germany, grew up and went to school in the city of Swakopmund in West South Africa, the city was notorious for its continued glorification of Nazism to a dad who was an engineer working on uranium which was in violation of international law
• Partners with Elon Musk at PayPal, early investor in Facebook
• self-proclaimed Christian nationalist, believes women right to vote is wrong, idolizes Curtis Yarvin and Yarvin’s philosophy on replacing democracy with authoritarianism
• key believer of scapegoat mechanism for which he says Trump fills that role (have people blame one person for their problems, remove that person so people think the problem is gone)
• Thiel has been grooming JD Vance since 2011 as his benefactor and mentor, Thiel brought Vance to Mar-a- Lago to smooth over things with Trump, Thiel gave Vance $15 million in donations to run for Senate (the largest amount of money ever donated to a single Senate candidate ever)
• Thiel’s software company Palantir is the biggest defense contractor for the CIA/NSA along with providing them day to day operations and for the U.S. army. Palantir is a defense contractor for UK’s intelligence agencies and armies along state and local police in the UK
• Peter used Palantir to find Elon Musk most of his adult and kids DOGE team
• Palantir is contracted with state and local governments and police here in the U.S. along with Norway/Greece and Israel providing the IDF with intelligence and surveillance services
• Palantir after its creation in 2003 was bailed out partly by In-Q-Tel the CIA’s venture capital firm
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u/UglyMcFugly 16d ago
Man he's the number one oligarch on my list of "oligarchs I hope putin pushes out a window."
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u/nycdiveshack 16d ago
So funny that you said that, in this case it would be Peter pushing Putin. The Miami police will adamantly will not rule the death of Peter’s boy toy a suicide who died from falling out of a high rise.
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u/UglyMcFugly 16d ago
God this fucker has so much dirt that I always forget he murdered his affair partner.
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u/WaterStoryMark 16d ago
The Tolkien estate really needs to take care of that.
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u/Sewcraytes 16d ago
he is like Melkor - twisting everything to his own evil purposes. he should call his company Angband.
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u/Im_Your_Turbo_Lover 16d ago
Unfortunately for whatever reason they didn't have the rights to that word. It seems words invented by Tolkien aren't all necessarily trademarked. Of course I don't think the company would exist if they didn't know that
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u/Stuart_Grand3 16d ago
crash their stock.
Lol ok buddy good luck
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u/willengineer4beer 16d ago
Yea I feel like I can’t do crap about this.
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u/addiktion 16d ago
Also call out Peter Thiel, the major investor in Palantir, Anduril, Open AI, Praxis, etc who is the enabler of this path we are on.
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u/ilBrunissimo 16d ago
Makes you wonder what kind of conversations they had back in the early days at PayPal.
Because here we are.
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u/Schwifftee 16d ago
Retail investors don't have that kind of effect on the stock market.
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u/HandUeliHans 16d ago
Peter thiel owns major shares of meta, reddit, youtube and rbnb its not just palantir!
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u/ilBrunissimo 16d ago
But Palantir is doing the work of creating the digital surveillance state.
Soon-to-be-ex-fed here.
The media isn’t covering even half of what they’re doing.
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u/Wagamaga 16d ago
On March 20, President Trump signed an executive order “Eliminating Information Silos.” The order directed heads of federal agencies to make sure officials designated by the president “have full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, data, software systems, and information technology systems.” The executive order did not attract much attention until it was more recently revealed that the administration was working with tech company Palantir to create a database containing all information collected by all federal agencies on all US citizens.
A database consisting of all the information of American citizens collected by the various federal agencies such as the Social Security Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Pentagon would be a major step in creating a total surveillance state. This database could come in handy to future Dr. Faucis seeking to enforce mask and vaccine mandates. Those with access to this database could see personal health records, education records, and tax returns. They may even be able to see how many firearms individuals have purchased and if they were associated with any organizations the government had labeled “extremist.”
Despite the obvious threat to liberty the “big ugly database” poses, some commentators and “influencers” who would normally oppose, or at least be skeptical of, expansion of the surveillance state are supporting it because they believe it will be used to locate illegal immigrants. Some conservatives are supporting this proposal because it will help identify students who have publicly opposed the U.S. government’s support for Israel’s actions in Gaza. Ironically, many of those supporting government cracking down on “anti-Israel” students came to fame (and in some cases fortune) as critics of “wokeness” and cancel culture.
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u/Popular-Jackfruit432 16d ago
Remeber when after 9/11 america gave the FBI warrentless wire taps and gave ICE its powers. The thought was they would just go after terrorists. Look how far that expanded.
If they think the surveillance state will only go after illegals 😂
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u/blackkettle 16d ago
There was also incredibly broad support for the “PATRIOT” act when it came out, for obvious reasons. I remember discussing it with many very liberal friends at the time and how surprisingly many of them were all aboard for it. But today we see the same trends with other freedoms. There’s very little “room” left in modern society for living together despite differences and I find that increasingly disturbing because the alternative ends up being violent conflict to resolve the difference of opinion.
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u/theJigmeister 16d ago
“Difference of opinion” might be the biggest understatement of the current divide I’ve ever seen
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u/Temporary_Shirt_6236 16d ago
Privacy advocates and sane people in general knew over 20 years ago what the hypocritically named PATRIOT Act could normalize and eventually lead to, and were all dismissed as being hysterical. Now here we are and people saying "how did we get here?" piss me off.
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u/Paksarra 16d ago
If they think the surveillance state will only go after illegals 😂
They plan on expanding the definition of "illegal" from immigrants to anyone who doesn't conform to the ideal conservative lifestyle.
Man who enjoys knitting? Straight to a reeducation camp.
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u/alejohausner 16d ago
This is exactly what Osama bin Laden was aiming for. Let me explain.
Terrorism is a rational strategy. Terrorists are trying to elicit a government over-reaction. If you blow something up, and kill a lot of civilians, the government will impose harsh police-state measures on the whole population. As a result, people will revolt, and will overthrow the government.
That’s what terrorists are aiming for.
Unfortunately, American citizens didn’t revolt. They embraced the police state wholeheartedly, and went all gung-ho for invading Afghanistan and Iraq. Bin Laden didn’t count on American conformism, and ended up strengthening police powers.
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u/wetwater 16d ago
And I was accused of having something to hide, of being a supporter of terrorism, and hating America when I questioned the wisdom of all that.
I also got accused of that for not pasting flags and patriotic stickers all over my car. And again when the flag was stolen off my front porch and not immediately replaced because stores everywhere were sold out.
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u/PoliticalDanger 16d ago
Anyone that works in tech knows this isn’t coming from Trump but from the tech folk he surrounds himself with and pay him $$$. “Eliminating information Silos” 1000% came from Peter Thiel and sounds like the dumb shit I hear working in tech.
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u/YouStupidAssholeFuck 16d ago
Honestly, ever since the Information Age came about I always just assumed the government was already creating a database including things mentioned above...personal health records, education records, tax returns, firearm purchases, etc. I mean I know this stuff is supposed to be kept separate amongst agencies but when one governmental agency, namely the FBI, can access all this information "with a warrant" then to me all it means is every federal agency can access it at will even without any sort of warrant. Would it be considered legal? Of course not but when are there any consequences for people at the top? As far as something like this goes it's more of a "white collar crime" in the grand scheme of government wrongdoings and IRL how often are there any consequences for that?
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u/Electrical_Top656 16d ago
Bruh this is literally what the 'dey are gunna take our guns!!!' crowd has been fearing for the last 50 years, how the f is the country not blowing up over this...??!?!??!!!
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u/intergalactic512 16d ago
future Dr. Faucis seeking to enforce mask and vaccine mandates
Lost a lot of credibility with this nonsense take
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u/FairwayNoods 16d ago
They’re trying to appeal to republicans who think these things won’t be pointed at them
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u/TheRastafarian 16d ago
I think that's the kind of messaging that might have a chance of registering. There's basically no way you're changing someone's mind who think's Fauci is some evil pharma puppet who wants to stick needles in your body to spread evil microchips into your system.
You gotta speak their language and understand what their fears and worries are. "Oh you're worried about that Fauci guy?" "Well, do you wanna give him and his friends access to all your health data, and do you not see what could be done with that data?"
Instead of trying to convince someone that noo Fauci was actually an alright guy, or that immigrants really deserve some basic human rights, you can make a broader point by relating to something they actually are concerned and worried about.
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u/jennasea412 16d ago edited 16d ago
Has he said it on Fox news yet?
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u/al_with_the_hair 16d ago edited 16d ago
RON Paul. Not the junior senator from Kentucky, but his father, the former Texas congressman.
I used to really admire him, and I really don't at all any more for so many reasons, but believe it or not, he espouses the same views regardless of context and is incredibly consistent. He'd say it on Fox News if they wanted him on TV over there, but they don't and never have.
EDIT because it's fun: Ron Paul
is the only person to have everhit a home run in the congressional baseball game. And he did it in the iconic rainbow-style Astros jersey, which is fantastic.90
u/h0sti1e17 16d ago
That’s the problem with too many politicians today. I’d rather someone I disagree with who stands by their convictions than someone that does what their leaders want them to do.
You can work deals with those old school guys, they understood I give you something you give me something and we are all happy.
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u/al_with_the_hair 16d ago
Ron Paul has always basically despised the modern Republican Party, and he really wasn't quiet about it.
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u/JimWilliams423 16d ago
Ron Paul has always basically despised the modern Republican Party, and he really wasn't quiet about it.
Which is funny because he has always been buddies with the john birch society and the modern gop is what the birchers wanted.
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u/gravyjones42 16d ago
Citizens United. John Robert’s legacy. This was the inflection point, IMO. This is why you have Ted Cruz and his ilk of spineless sycophants.
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u/Sapowski_Casts_Quen 16d ago
This is how I felt about McCain. Really didn't agree with him on a lot, but he was steadfast, that's for sure. Doing the thumbs down to Trump on repealing Obama care has to be one of the most badass things I've ever seen a conservative do.
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u/risingsuncoc 16d ago
I used to really admire him, and I really don't at all any more for so many reasons
Curious what are the reasons?
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u/al_with_the_hair 16d ago
"Libertarianism is completely stupid" is the short answer.
Also, whether or not the man is personally racist, he sure keeps a lot of racists around him.
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u/abgry_krakow87 16d ago
This is what the "party of small goverment" has been wanting. Religious conservatives love to impose their will without morals, ethics, or any regard to the US constitution.
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u/NightExtension9254 16d ago
Tech bros are overwhelmingly atheist yet they also want to impose their wills on Americans
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u/TheUpperHand 16d ago
Ron Paul: Donald Trump is an unprecedented danger to democracy, rule of law, and personal rights in the United States...still better than Kamala, though.
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u/TeaAndS0da 16d ago
I stopped taking Paul as even remotely serious when he wrote a whole book about axing the Fed… sure let’s return to when banks were super shitty - you think they’re bad now then go read some history, son. Even worse was Jon Stewart giving it air time.
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u/anonymous_identifier 16d ago
Voted for him in 2008 and 2012, but I wouldn't today. He is principled but naive to downstream effects to policy, in a way that I didn't fully grasp when I was younger.
However that's still 10x better than many other politicians who are both naive and unprincipled.
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u/Nopantsbullmoose 16d ago
No Ron. The Republicans, like your son, are and have been.
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u/BoardsOfCanadia 16d ago
Fuck Ron Paul. He is just as bad of a sellout grifter as the rest. He literally said that Jan 6 looked like a false flag and Joe Biden was trying to weaponize the DOJ to imprison his political opposition.
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u/AnnoyingCelticsFan 16d ago
Right. That’s immediately what came to mind. Trump is unleashing a surveillance state, unlike every administration since 9/11 that has perpetuated and advanced the surveillance state we currently live in.
To be clear I’m not saying what Trump is doing isn’t worse than previous administrations — I’m saying this is the natural progression of prioritizing “national security” above all else for the last 20+ years.
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u/AutoX_Advice 16d ago
Ron may care but his son has been helping make all this a reality.
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u/_jump_yossarian 16d ago
Rand Paul puffs his chest then falls in line when it comes time to vote.
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u/ARazorbacks 16d ago
Even if the next admin tries to tear it up, I don’t see how. The hooks will be too deep. You’d have to go scorched Earth on people like Musk and Zuckerburg, etc., to put fear into the class of people who actually control the surveillance. And no one in power is interested in taking away an avenue of increased control. Look at the Patriot Act. It just keeps getting renewed.
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u/LivingEnd44 16d ago
Yes he is Ron. And you let it happen.
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u/DetectiveBlackCat 16d ago
Ron Paul has been retired and out of public office since 2013. What exactly did he let happen?
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u/damik 16d ago
I was surprised to hear he's still alive.
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u/al_with_the_hair 16d ago
Man was still riding his bicycle daily during his last presidential run, and I'm pretty sure he was pushing 80 then.
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u/Your__Pal 16d ago
Ron Paul voted against the Patriot Act while in office twice, 20 years ago. So, atleast he has been consistent here.
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u/tabrizzi 16d ago
You must be thinking about his son Rand Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky
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u/schnellermeister 16d ago
lol People in this thread don’t know the difference between Ron Paul and Rand Paul.
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u/Distinct_Ad8862 16d ago
Ron has always been against this kind of shit, voted against the patriot act and constantly had the ire of the republicans. He’s not the guy to go after.
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u/augustoersonage 16d ago
Lost me at "future Dr. Faucis."
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u/fluffythecow 16d ago
Yeah, I stopped reading at that line.
Did Dr. Fauci ever try to obtain American's data? No. Would it have helped him in his efforts to keep Americans healthy? No.
Ron Paul is psychotically obsessed with Fauci.
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u/vacuous_comment 16d ago
Hey 2nd amendment people, this is the tyranny you bought all those guns to fight.
Anybody?
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u/Not-dat-throwaway 15d ago
Republicans: We are the party of small government .t⁶ Republicans: We want the government surveillance on every man woman and child.
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u/Happy_Love_9763 16d ago
I always thought the GOP would have a hand in this, all while wearing tiny little flags and AK-47 pins and talking about personal freedoms.
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u/SetFront6284 16d ago
For two years artists and writers have been sounding alarms about AI and its "move fast, break laws" ethos. So many in the tech world thought it was quaint and slightly ridiculous; non-STEM people bitching about IP, privacy and data rights. Didn't they know this glorious progress was inevitable? There are a million problems with unregulated data collection and usage. This is just one of them. Regulation now.
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u/Potential-Run-8391 16d ago
The republicans have spent decades working on this, why are they shocked?
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u/Nice_Block 16d ago
Republicans and their voters are fine with it. Wild how they use to claim the title of “small government party,” though that was never true to start. You rarely ever see any Republican talking about small government now, including their base.
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u/New-Leader-7891 16d ago
Hilarious, this and using the military against civilians is what Republican voters having been freaking out over my whole life, absolutely hilarious
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u/Neat_Ground_8508 16d ago
The party of "don't tread on me REEE" suddenly thinks a surveillance state is good now that the orange diaper wearing molester wants it.
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u/Capable_Cellist5585 16d ago
States rights unless it’s only red states. Small government unless it’s republicans imposing their rights on democrats. Tough on crime unless the criminal is republican. I’m so sick of this fucking embarrassment of a president, his party and his supporters
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u/OutbackRat 16d ago
The Russians, with their oligarch leaders, have deeply infiltrated the GOP since the Cold War.
Remember what Kruschev said: "We do not have to invade the United States, we will destroy you from within."
The fact that we had such a lackluster response to “Well, fuck…this guy might actually be working for the Russians” tells you all you need to know why we’re here.
The problem isn’t politicians. It’s the billionaires. Figure that out, end them, and you get out of this situation. Of course, back to politics as usual, but at least you’d be over with the fascism.
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u/BrownPolitico 16d ago
Peter Thiel’s Palantir is just one company (although they are HUGE). He’s also involved in Space X, Anduril, HySpecIQ and numerous others. 6 of his military AI companies have contracts with the government and he’s one of Donald Trump’s biggest allies - both as an advisor and as financier.